Jose Medeiros

Most companies say they want design maturity. But too often, they treat it like a vibe shift. Hire a design exec. Run a few workshops. Roll out a component library. Then wonder why the customer experience still feels fragmented. Real design maturity isn’t surface polish. It’s systemic coordination. And it only works when you fire on all four cylinders: 1️⃣ Strategic 2️⃣ Operational 3️⃣ Tactical 4️⃣ Cultural Miss one, and the system breaks down. In my latest essay, I outline: 🔹 What each dimension looks like at scale 🔹 Litmus tests for executive alignment 🔹 Why design is more than a function, it’s an operating model 🔹 How to build compounding advantage over time This one’s for the design execs, product leaders, and founders serious about making design indispensable, not decorative. 👇 Read the full piece “The Four Dimensions of a Mature Design Practice” https://lnkd.in/gt97SnJH #DesignLeadership #ProductDesign #DesignOps #EnterpriseUX #DesignSystems #OrgDesign #CustomerExperience #StrategicDesign #DesignMaturity #UXStrategy #CrossFunctionalTeams #DesignExecution

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🚨 Design isn’t coming back. It never left. But its value is being rerecognized—with urgency. In the last 18 months, many companies treated design as expendable. Teams were cut. Systems atrophied. The cost? 🔸 Surging support tickets 🔸 Dropping retention 🔸 Product ecosystems quietly eroding But the tide is turning. Innovative companies are rebuilding—and thriving—because they never stopped treating design as strategic infrastructure. ✅ They measure the design’s impact on tangible business outcomes. ✅ They embed design in decision-making, not just delivery. ✅ They hire for systems thinking, not just visual polish. ✅ They invest in the infrastructure to scale design with the business. This isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about relevance. Design is the differentiator in an AI-powered, ethically complex, rapidly evolving world. McKinsey’s research shows that top design performers have doubled revenue growth. And the future—from climate tech to spatial computing—needs design leadership to be livable, scalable, and trusted. The Renaissance is underway. Will your company lead it, or scramble to catch up? 👉 Read the full essay: The Coming Renaissance: Why Design’s Rebirth Is Already Underway https://lnkd.in/g-TZiYrw #DesignLeadership #UXStrategy #ProductDesign #AIandDesign #DesignMaturity #BusinessValueOfDesign #DesignSystems #FutureOfWork #EthicalDesign #DesignRenaissance

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There’s been a noticeable tension in the design world lately—a quiet undercurrent of uncertainty that seems to be growing louder. Some surveys suggest that over 60% of designers are concerned about their roles being replaced by AI in the next decade. Whether or not those numbers hold, the sentiment feels familiar. The ground is shifting, and many are wondering what it means for their future. A few things feel worth reflecting on. – AI is accelerating quickly, taking on tasks that used to sit squarely in the designer’s domain. It’s generating layouts, images, even lines of code. That doesn’t necessarily mean the role of the designer is disappearing, but it does seem like it’s being reshaped. What we used to call “design” may soon look more like creative direction—curating, guiding, and refining rather than building from scratch. – That shift asks something different of us. It nudges us toward strategic thinking, systems awareness, and storytelling. Less about the pixels, more about the perspective. – And for those learning the craft—whether in school or on the job—there’s a real opportunity to evolve how we teach and train. AI literacy, data fluency, and the ability to work across disciplines might become as important as color theory or typography. Of course, all of this is still unfolding. There’s a tendency to frame these conversations as threats, but there’s another way to see it: as a chance to expand the role of design itself. If AI can take on the repetitive parts, that leaves more room for the uniquely human parts—empathy, interpretation, imagination. The path forward may not be obvious, but it does seem like a moment worth stepping into with curiosity. What kinds of skills—or even mindsets—do you think will matter most for designers navigating this next chapter?

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The Template Trap: How Template Culture Is Dumbing Down UX Overreliance on frameworks as universal solutions rather than adaptable starting points undermines critical thinking and threatens our field's intellectual rigor. @segibb #UX #productDesign https://buff.ly/4ARMuks

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For the second year in a row, I’ve had the privilege of reviewing UX portfolios for Carnegie Mellon University's School of Design students. One thing I’ve noticed? Many portfolios follow a case study format that buries the most important information at the bottom of a long page. Hiring managers, who often review dozens of portfolios in a single sitting, might never even make it that far. The fix? Lead with impact. I recommend using the BLUF method (Bottom Line Up Front), which puts the key challenge and outcome at the top, making it easy for hiring managers to see your value immediately. Another common mistake? Generic introductions. If I can swap out your name in your bio for someone else’s and it still makes sense, then it’s not unique enough. Your portfolio should reflect you—not just your work, but what makes you memorable. I wrote about these insights (and more!) in my latest article which I’ve posted the link in a comment. If you’re working on your UX portfolio, I hope these tips help you stand out and land the opportunities you deserve!

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Most design collaboration fails before it even starts. Not because people don’t care or lack skill. But because the system they’re in isn’t built for it. The intent isn’t aligned with how the work actually happens. If you lead a design or product team, this will sound familiar. Teams chase business goals or user needs, but rarely balance both. The real work is designing the system that connects them. I’ve seen this play out where marketing argues for numbers, design wants direction, and engineering asks for clarity. Everyone’s right (and nothing moves). In my Glaringly Obvious conversation with Ian Batterbee, he shares how teams can lose their human center when they lean too much on business goals or technology limits. That’s when good intentions turn into blind spots. Ian believes designers can fix that by helping people see the bigger picture they’re part of. Check out our conversation: https://lnkd.in/gm5HxKYS Design helps people think better together. Some teams start from business goals, pulling everyone toward alignment through strategy and numbers. Others start from user needs, trying to understand real behavior and motivation. Even I’ve fallen into both traps, chasing insight or efficiency and missing the connection that holds it all together. I’m not going to argue that one approach is wrong. There aren’t very many truly user-centric companies, so in most cases, the point is mute. If both fall short, it is because they aren’t connected to the systems, processes, people, and tools that make collaboration possible. If business goals drive without listening, users get lost. If the user needs lead without structure, progress gets stuck. I can say I’ve seen too many designers overly focus on trying to solve a user problem, without clearly understanding how it shapes the business goals, which are necessary to sustain a viable product, service, or company. Product design leaders who master this balance become the people everyone looks to when things get stuck. Great design collaboration happens when both are driven by systems where goals are informed by people, and people are supported by goals. You need a system that supports both. →  We’re excited to share what we’ve learned and show product and design leaders how to bring these systems to their own teams. We’re building a community of leaders with our open framework, Helio Glare, who care about this shift in product design. Join us: https://lnkd.in/ggHXcVQZ P.S. We’re opening the next round of members this month. If you lead a team that’s ready to make faster, clearer design calls, shoot me a DM.

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If you’ve ever felt held back by unclear expectations or wondered "what's next?" for your role, you are not alone. In collaboration with Kaleb Loosbrock (AIxUXR), we’re working on a practical UX Research Career Guide to help you move forward.  We’re launching the full guide in January, but we wanted to share a First Look Preview today. Get a first look at the 𝐨𝐧𝐞-𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: the 5+1 core UXR competencies + their key sub-skills. What you can do today: ✅ Pick one competency and map your current strengths ✅ Spot skills you want to grow in 2026 ✅ Use the overview as a quick reflection tool for your next 1:1 What you’ll get in January: ➡️ Clear descriptions of what good looks like for 5 career levels ➡️ Examples to help you recognise where you are today ➡️ Signals that show when you’re ready for the next step ➡️ Guiding questions you can use for planning, performance talks, or self-reflection It is a helpful guide for managers as well. Defining clear job descriptions is just one example. 👉 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲: https://lnkd.in/eEe9vq4z 👉 PDF version of the Preview edition: https://lnkd.in/eP6t4QNP ​#UXResearch #CareerGrowth #UXR #Leadership #AI

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The most critical thing for designers to internalize is that runaway financialization is the existential threat to design (if you define design as intentionally improving products, services, and systems for the people who use them and those whose material conditions are affected by their use). Also, read Megan Greenwell's book Bad Company. "Until Deadspin, I naively believed that a company making money required the company to sell goods or services. Boosting profits, under this line of thinking, requires either selling more of the company’s existing goods or services, or finding new goods or services to sell. This misunderstanding made me genuinely optimistic when Deadspin and our sister sites were purchased by a private equity firm and renamed G/O Media in 2019. The numbers my bosses had shown me indicated that Deadspin was profitable, even if our parent company was not. I knew we could be more profitable if we made basic moves like developing a subscription program, but our previous owner — the Spanish-language broadcaster Univision — never seemed to care enough to put in the time. " https://lnkd.in/gPKhEWd5

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The future of design isn't prettier pixels—it's intelligence architecture. Suff Syed's latest piece challenges everything we know: designers must move from the surface to the substrate—from interfaces to the intelligence layer beneath. We've spent careers perfecting visual design, following leaders like Jony Ive. However, in the Era of Intelligence, we need to look toward different leaders—such as Demis Hassabis—who design systems that think, not just look beautiful. Here's the shift: The skills that got us here are no longer sufficient. As AI becomes the new operating system, designers who understand agentic AI, proactive systems, and personal intelligence will shape the next decade. Why now: 96% of designers are self-teaching AI skills. Startups are adopting AI at twice the rate of enterprises. The window to become an outlier is closing. This isn't about AI replacing designers—it's about designers who understand AI replacing those who don't. My challenge: Stop treating AI as just another tool. Start learning how these systems work intimately. Move from decorating surfaces to architecting intelligence. Read Suff's full article: https://lnkd.in/dtfG4dGn Will you be designing with AI or watching from the sidelines? #Design #AI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignLeadership

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Most companies hire designers backward. They obsess over resumes and run generic interviews. Here's the system that helped us hire 3 top designers from one posting: Great designers often have messy resumes. The best portfolios come in random formats... Traditional interviews often miss what matters. We discovered this after years of costly hiring mistakes. Design is about judgment and clarity, not credentials. It's about thinking under constraints, not interview performance. So, we built a system that reflects how design works: Step 1: Portfolio first. Always. We ignore resumes initially. Just the work. Figma files, Notion docs, Google Drive decks - the format doesn't matter. Step 2: Filter out, don't select in. Clear criteria to disqualify saves time. No B2B SaaS experience? We move on. Step 3: Give context before we take time. Candidates get a video explaining Pixel One first. The interview focuses on their thinking, not us talking. Step 4: Only interview candidates we're genuinely excited about. If their work doesn't excite us, we pass on it. Keeps the bar high. Step 5: Paid exercise with a time cap. We respect their time by paying for it. Clear constraints, real problems. Demonstrates how they operate under real-world conditions. We watch for: • How they structure thinking • How they factor client needs • If they explain choices clearly • Whether they consider business logic Step 6: Trial first, then full-time. Every offer includes a 3-month trial. Both sides evaluate fit before going permanent. The results? From 200+ applicants, we hired 3 of our top 4 candidates. All three are still here 18 months later. Our designer retention jumped from 60% to 95%. New hires ship work 3x faster. Client NPS increased by 40 points. Do you want the exact design exercise we use to spot top designers?

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We’ve laid off too many junior designers and focused hiring too much on seniors. You can understand why: seniors are efficient, autonomous, and high-output. But there’s an insidious problem: when you don’t train junior designers mentorship collapses and the pipeline dries up. In 10 years there will be no one left ready to fill those senior seats. Short-term optimization = Long-term pain. You can read more from my recent newsletter article: https://lnkd.in/g-DgFMau

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UX isn’t just about wireframes or visual design. It’s about outcomes. It’s a business function, first and foremost. Great designers know how to shift their perspective. One moment they’re deep in the details of the solution. The next, they’re zooming out to think about the broader impact, what success really looks like, and how to get there. To get #UX right, teams need clarity around outcomes. Those objectives are more than internal KPIs. They reflect real user needs as well as the business goals. When teams can move fluidly between those layers—user and outcome—they build better products and delivery outcomes to advance the business.   Here’s how we approach it:  - Start by mapping the desired outcomes - Build a brief that reflects those outcomes clearly - Map the broader system: constraints, external factors, success levers - Set short, medium, and long-term strategies - Borrow from adjacencies - Build with change in mind When you align design with real objectives, everything clicks. I'll be diving deeper into this topic at UXPA Boston this Friday, 5/9—hope to see you there! #UserExperience #HumanCenteredDesign #UXPABoston #UXPA2025 

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